New data have suggested the attacks on the World Trade Center cost the New York economy far less than the nearly $100bn city officials pegged in September.

The New York Federal Reserve Bank said on Tuesday the 11 September attacks cost the city $33bn-$36bn (�20.7bn-�22.6bn) up to June 2002, when the official clean-up effort ceased.

It's hard to see an imminent rebound for New York City when Wall Street is still is in a downsizing mode

Jason Bram, report author

The estimate is about one-third less than the city's own revised estimate of $95bn, although that tally included costs over a three-year term.

The New York Fed's report said the losses included $7.8bn in wages, lost by the 2,795 people killed in the attacks, as well the $21.6bn cost to clean-up and replace the twin towers.

"When you talk about labour losses, probably the most important thing was the loss of human life, which you really can't put a number on," said Jason Bram, one of the report's authors.

"But as economists, we have do that," he said.

Job losses

More positively, the report noted much of the estimated costs had already been realised, with site clean-up achieved more quickly than thought, a resilient housing market and job layoffs ebbing.

Clean-up was completed far sooner than expected

The report, which appears in the November edition of the regional Fed's Economic Policy Review, also noted that the New York economy slowed significantly immediately after the attacks but showed signs of recovery within two months.

Even so, the New York Fed said the attacks "significantly reduced the productive potential of the New York City economy" impacting the tourism and financial-services industries especially hard.

The cost to city jobs has been harder to quantify.

The New York Fed noted some 147,000 jobs, or 4.6% of the workforce, were lost from December 2000 to March 2002.

Economic uncertainty

Many of the recent job losses coincided with the overall downturn in the economy following the bursting of the dot.com bubble.

World Trade Center souvenirs remain popular

About 55,000 jobs were lost in the nine-month period from January to September 2001.

But a record 51,000 jobs were lost in October, the month after the attacks in which two hijacked jetliners were crashed into the twin towers.

Over 80% of those positions came from airlines, hotels, restaurants and financial-services firms.

Since the terror attacks, Wall Street, the soul of the New York economy, cut 18,000 jobs through June.

While the city has been experiencing a jobs rebound in recent months, with Wall Street still downsizing amid corporate scandals and investor apathy, New York's economy remains volatile.

"The city's been through a lot of booms and busts," says the New York Fed's Bram. "Right now we're in a slump."

Still, there is no reason to think the city will not recover, he said.

"[But] it's hard to see an imminent rebound for New York City when Wall Street is still is in a downsizing mode."